You can find out the details by clicking on this [link] but to give you the ‘heads up’ we’ve now made this a packed 5 hour workshop and to reflect that the price of tickets is now £95 per person or a special deal of (£160 for 2)…

I’m incredibly excited about this new workshop and can’t wait to start working on some new and exciting images for 2012 but spaces are limited to 12 attendees so don’t miss out out…book your ticket today and come join me and start making your own Creative Composites!!!

See you there

Creative Compositing Workshop with Glyn Dewis [Link]

•     •     •

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Now on the subject of plug ins regular readers of this blog will know that up until fairly recently I tended to avoid using them. Long story short when I first started using Photoshop I studied and studied to the point I started to feel like I knew my way around but then more client work started coming in. Consequently I needed to turn around images so much faster and so began using plug ins. The trouble here was that I relied on them too heavily and subsequently over time, my knowledge and skill in Photoshop (I felt) diminshed. People would ask how I’d achieved a certain look and I just couldn’t answer, or rather would bluff it because I somehow felt at the time that using plug ins was cheating.

Anyway because of this I made the decision to delete all the plug ins I had and start from scratch and that’s pretty much how it has been for me ever since … well, atleast up until earlier this year when I spent some time with my good friends Calvin Hollywood and Gabor Richter.

It was by spending time with Calvin & Gabor that I learned how to use plug ins. You see, as someone who teaches Photoshop I feel it’s vitally important that I know how to replicate the effects that can be achieved using plug ins because understandably not everyone I teach would have them so I need to show them how they can achieve the same results. I’m at the stage in my Photoshop life where I feel pretty confident I can do that now … or certainly as near as damn it anyway

Calvin has a stage in his editing that he calls 20/80 and by that he means the final 20% of his editing takes 80% of the whole time and it’s this last stage when I too use plug ins and other techniques that  I know in photoshop to come up with the finished look; except I just call it Play Time  Also for the majority of the time when I use a plug in, the effect is only applied to certain parts of the image as opposed to being applied ‘globally’ … if that makes sense.

Anyway, here’s a run through of the plug ins I have installed and use on a daily basis:

Nik Color Efex Pro 4
Absolutely love this plug…and one that was recommended by both Calvin and Gabor. The plug in itself has something like 50+ filters installed! A Superb plug in with a great user interface and allows you to stack multiple filters to create unique looks. Runs real quick too!

Color Efex Pro 4
Price: Standard Edition £99 (approx) ; Complete Edition £199 (approx)

Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 
Quite simply THE best way to convert your images to Black & White!Price: £199 (approx)

Silver Efex Pro 2

Topaz Details 
Again, another I was recommended to use by Calvin & Gabor. The impact this plug in has on your images has to be seen to be believed…seriously good! During my workshops I do cover a technique to bring out a lot more detail in your images that works great but the downside of it is that it can introduce artifacts whereas Topaz Details doesn’t seem to. Don’t get me wrong, the Photoshop method works great and I do use that selectively on some images but Topaz Details just nails it!

The only negative I can say about this plug in is the User Interface as the preview doesn’t really give an accurate look at what the resulting effect will be.

Topaz Details
Price: £25 (approx)

Finally, rather than being a Plug In I want to point you to a Photoshop Script written by the legend that is Russell Brown.

Basically this script allows you to very quickly and easily take any layer you’re working on in Photoshop over to Camera Raw and back again. Obvious advantages here are that you can make use of sliders that you simply don’t have in Photoshop such as Clarity, Fill and Orange etc…

Seriously worth installing this little script and it’s one I use on most all my edits wat some point without fail.

Russell Brown CS5 Script: Edit Layers in Adobe Camera RAW

So there you have it, my favourite and only plug ins. I’m sure in the new year there’ll be some new additions or enhancements so when there are I’ll make a point of posting about them here but in the mean time if you have any plug ins you can’t live without then feel free to share them in the comments section below so we can all take a look.
Enjoy

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When I’m adding in a new background I like to make sure that it measures the exact same dimensions as what it’s going to be placed into; this way I don’t have to start resizing it later and as a consequence affecting how sharp it is etc…

Doing this is really easy and takes just two simple steps as you can see in this example:

Canvas Size
Ok, so in Photoshop here I have my image of model Steve Lewington that I’m going to work on and this measures 4256 pixels x 2832 pixels:

So, for me to now make up a background that fits exactly these dimensions all I need to do in Photoshop is:

Step 1: From the File Menu, select … New

Step 2: From within the New dialog box, click in the box next to the word Preset and from with the options that appear select the name of the file that you already have open; in this case “STEVE_LEWINGTON” and click OK.

And that is all there is to it! The new document that now opens up in Photoshop will measure exactly the same dimensions; see…told you it was a Quick
Enjoy

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500px (Portfolio)

It’s really exciting to see how fast places are filling up for the walk I’ll be leading over in the City of Oxford, UK where’s there just so much to take in and see. With spaces limited to 50 people for each walk there are a few places left so if you haven’t already then why not register and come join what is going to be a great day! [Link]

I couldn’t resist putting together a short video to give you an idea of the route we’ll be going on which incidentally is just a guide; there’s just so much to see and do in Oxford you may well find yourself being spoilt for choice…

Official 2011 World Wide Photo Walk T-Shirts and more…
Also, if you haven’t already then why not get yourself one of this years Official World Wide Photo Walk T-Shirts [Link] which cost just £16.50 with 100% of the profits from each sale going to the Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya helping to raise money to feed and care for young children.

Here’s looking forward to what is destined to be a record breaking world wide event!
Enjoy

*To find out more click here [Link]
*You can Register for the Oxford Photo Walk for free using this [Link]
*Get an Official 2011 World Wide Photo Walk T Shirt Link

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Ok so here’s a question for you…

If you could spend 3 hours in the company of Joe McNally shooting both in the studio and on location, with one light, multiple lights, and a variety of modifiers to overcome all manner of lighting situations you’d jump at the chance right?

Reality is that for the majority this just isn’t going to happen, but without question Joe’s new DVD “The Language of Light” is the very best next thing.

But with so many instructional DVD’s out there in the market place you may at first find yourself wondering what could possibly be so different about this one, so allow me to explain…

From the Cover:
For the past 3 decades, photographer Joe McNally has been documenting our times on assignment for publications like LIFE, Time, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and many others. Highly regarded as a Master of Light, both natural and artificial, Joe continues to create stunning imagery all over the world. Much sought after as a photographer, lecturer and teacher, Joe educates and inspires shooters of all types – pros, hobbyists and beginners with The Language of Light.

In this DVD set, Joe shares almost 30 years worth of field knowledge, instruction and philosophy about using light as a powerful tool of visual communication. He fully explores and explains different lighting techniques and goes well beyond the “how” and all the way through the “why”, of using light. Small flash, hard light, soft light, light with colour, light in the studio and on location are all dissected and explained. You see and hear all about the F Stops, shutter speeds, lenses and light shaping tools, and you are taken further into the reasons why one lighting approach is better than another for certain scenes, faces or groups. All along the way, Joe offers tips, tricks and solutions than can only be gained from 30 years with a camera to your eye. Sit back, relax and enjoy as this legendary shooter takes you on a fast paced, humorous, and always informative journey about how to speak with light.

This 2 DVD set is packed, and I mean packed full of shoots & techniques but here’s where it’s different:

First off Joe’s instructional style is totally engaging; every single thing is explained..the how, the why, the why not’s…all of it is there leaving you in no doubt about what is being done.

It actually feels as though you’re there on set with Joe as he takes you through the concept of the shoot and sets up everything and explains why he’s doing something every single step of the way.

DVD 1:
The first DVD sets the tone for what’s to come as Joe explains in simple terms how to get beautiful light from just one light source and then moves on to using several lights…all of which throughout the DVD are regular hotshoe flashes but be prepared to see what those things are capable of as Joe turns small flashes into real big light sources…quickly and easily.

Taken from the official Language of Light Website [Link] here’s what DVD has in store:

• Turning one small flash into one big light – The name of the game with small flash is to make it look like big flash. Lots of strategies explained here, but if you’ve only got one speed light and a white wall, you’re in business!
• Controlling harsh natural light – One of the most important things to know as a shooter is how to use bad light well. Taking hard, nasty daylight and turning it into beautiful light is actually pretty easy. Anybody got a bed sheet and a piece of white cardboard?
• Dramatic one light portraiture – One light can be soft and beautiful, but It can also create drama through the magic and mystery of shadows. The play of light and dark on the human face is essential to explore if you want to shoot good portraits.

Now I’ll just say this…I would have brought this DVD set for this section alone!
When Joe shows how to dramatically improve your portraits by moving the light in a certain way by just 6” you’ll see exactly what I mean…Genius!

• Tour of small flash light shapers – There’s lots of stuff our there you can hang on your small flash to shape, bend, soften and tweak it. We’ll show you some terrific ones that are simple and wont break the bank.
• Light placement – Where you put the light is almost as important as where you put your camera in relation to your subject. We’ll show you how distance and direction can dramatically affect the quality of your light.

DVD 2:
This DVD picks up the pace with more studio time and more shooting out ‘on location’. What’s great here is that you get to see more of how Joe works his way through a shoot, working in a number of locations and dealing with a host of lighting challenges. The magic though is that there are always solutions and Joe shows how those solutions are really quite simple when you understand the 3 principles of  light…Colour, Quantity and Direction.

Contents:

• High speed sync – High speed flash! These (often overlooked) techniques help to tame the sun, and limit depth of field for effective portraiture. Just because the sun is out in full force, doesn’t mean you can’t use flash effectively.
• Mixing color temperatures – The “big three” of flash lighting – quality, direction, and color. Throughout the DVD, we talk about the color of light and how we mix flash with ambient and existing artificial light.
• Flash and blur – Flash moves fast! We’ll explore how to show motion in a “still” photograph.

• Athletic portraiture – Strategies for lighting the athletic human body. Drama, intensity, and excitement are key components of the world of sports, and your flash technique has to meet that challenge. We’ll show how to make the athletic body come alive.
• Lighting in a tight spot – Small spaces present big challenges. The locations photographers encounter are rarely ideal. We’ll tackle different tactics for lighting dramatically in a small space to get maximum effect.
• Group portraits – Our favorite thing! Groups! Tips and tricks for lighting the masses, large and small.
• Engaging Your Subject – Before you can photograph someone effectively, you need to establish a relationship. Get to know them, make them feel relaxed, and help them encounter the camera with confidence. All throughout both discs, we show the importance of human relations, and how to make someone feel and look good in front of the lens.

Folks I could go on and on about how good this DVD set is; seriously I would have paid alot more than the $159 (£97) price tag. Sure I’m a photographer, I do portraits, I use flash in studio and on location but there’s one thing I don’t do and that’s ‘stop learning’ and when it comes to learning I want to learn from the best.

I’ve watched both DVD’s a number of times already and each time I do I pick up more tips and techniques. But understand this…it’s not just the technical know how you’re learning here…it’s how someone regarded as being one of the best in the world assesses locations, works through lighting challenges and maybe most importantly interacts with the subjects he’s shooting.

Where to Purchase:
The DVD set is only available through Adorama [Link] and costs $159 (£97) and what’s more there’s even FREE International Shipping.

Quite simply…One of the best investments I’ve made to date! Highly Recommended!

•    •    •

http://www.joemcnally.com
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog
http://www.youtube.com/joemcnallyphoto

Ever since Calvin appeared as a Guest here on the blog [Link] we’ve talked about him bringing over his workshop to the UK. Well, after much discussion and several more emails back and forth I’m really excited to announce that it’s finally happening

Details:
For full details check out Calvin’s blog [Link] but to give you a brief overview this is a 2 day ‘hands on’ workshop; the 1st day covering Calvin’s Photography Techniques and the 2nd being a day of Photoshop Magic as Calvin shows and teaches the retouching and compositing techniques that have made him into one of the hottest names in the Photography and Photoshop World today!

The workshop is being held at my favourite studio where I do all my indoor shoots and that’s the fabulous Gareth Davies Studio in Wokingham, Berkshire [Link]; an 1800 sqft studio with drive in access, state of the art photographic and post production facilities and with easy access by road or train…

This is a 2 day Workshop being run on the 27th and 28th August with 12 spaces available. My advice to you would be to book your space now because they’re going to sell fast and I mean real fast!

So, head on over to Calvin’s blog for more details of the workshop and how you can book your space by following this link: www.calvinhollywood-blog.com

Look forward to seeing you there

Firstly, if you’re a Photographer who owns an iPad and uses Adobe Photoshop Lightroom in your workflow you’re going to love this:

Photosmith ‘the iPad mobile companion for Adobe Lightroom‘ will very soon be available in the iTunes App Store. Being part of the Press Release Team I’ve been using the full version for a short while already in order to have a review ready for launch date, and I’ve got to say it works like a dream!

Being able to sort through your images, tag, reject, pick, create collections, add descriptions, copyright info and more whilst ‘chimping‘ plus when back in front of your main computer having all this sync perfectly and wirelessly into your Lightroom Catalog is incredible!

The creators of Photosmith are now just waiting for Apple to dot the i’s and cross the t’s before it becomes available in the App Store but it’s expected to be in the coming week, which is when I’ll post up a full review

In the mean time you may want to add the Photosmith blog [Link] to your RSS readers to keep up to date on all that’s going on

Watch ‘The Grid’ on your iPad
No longer will you have to race home or stay on in the office to catch the live broadcast of the Photography & Photoshop discussion show ‘The Grid‘. Hosted by Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski and with Special Guests each week it’s now possible to tune into this incredibly popular show live on your iPad.

Of course this is going to mean hooking into a WiFi Hotspot and a little bit of multi tasking by watching on your iPad and tweeting on your mobile phone at the same time, but now there’s no need to miss a ‘live‘ show; oh and here’s the link you’ll need www.kelbytv.com/thegrid

Right that’s all for now, must dash…this packing isn’t going to do itself.
Have a great weekend and I’ll catch you later,

Enjoy

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Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a huge fan of editing and creating composite images in Photoshop but none of that is possible without first working hard behind the camera to get ‘the shot’. The old adage of ‘Garbage in, Garbage out’ still rings true despite the incredible advances that have been made in Photoshop over the past few years. You see Photoshop is an incredible tool, but that is all it is…a tool and when all is said and done, the majority of enhancements have served to make what has always been possible, that much easier to achieve. For example, the Refine Edge Command in Photoshop CS5 is incredible for making selections, but we’ve always been able to make selections with all the other methods available to us…Channels, Pen Tool etc…

I’m sure we’ve all heard comments such as “Yeah but that’s all been done in Photoshop” on more than one occasion and that’s just the sign of the times. There can’t be a person on the planet that hasn’t heard of Photoshop; heck I’ve even heard it being mentioned in TV dramas but the fact that people have heard about it, doesn’t mean they understand it. There has never been nor will there ever be a ‘Turn this piece of c$&p into a Masterpiece Filter’ and for that reason there’s no escaping it…it all starts ‘in camera’ and making the best possible image at the point of capture; it’s at this point we can then bring Photoshop into the mix.

Anyway, having said all that let’s get back to how the ‘Fighter’ image was made. Below is an iPhone photo showing the set up used which consisted of 2 strip lights and one beauty dish…

Here’s the RAW image exactly as it was when imported into my MacBook Pro at time of capture i.e. no editing applied. The time was taken during the shoot to set the lighting so that highlights and shadows fell exactly as I wanted so as to really show off Ricky’s physique to the fullest and subsequently look right in the final composite image.

*Note: The white walls of the studio have been turned to a mid(ish) grey ‘in camera’ by the distance Ricky and the lighting were from them.

Once I was happy with the ‘in camera’ image it was then a case of working in Photoshop to create the final composite. To give you an idea of the work that went into the final image here’s a screen grab showing all the layers…

Below you can see the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ comparison which clearly shows that on Ricky himself the editing has only enhanced what was already present in the original RAW image. The background that has been added in was originally a shot of a plain grey brick wall that I have added a Union Jack flag onto in Photoshop and painted away portions of it to give the weathered/grunge look…

In another post I’ll give you a run through of how other photos from shoot were made such as the ones you can see in the Lightroom screen capture below.

In the mean time though I’d love to ‘hear’ your thoughts on the whole ‘in camera’ issue and the role that you see Photoshop plays in today’s Photography. It’s a topic of conversation that will always be around and will generate serious debate. Personally I think Photoshop is a vital part in today’s Photography however as I’ve already eluded to it isn’t a cure for poor photography. First and foremost we are photographers and that’s what we need to show our clients and I think we owe it to ourselves to be the best we can be and that starts ‘in camera’.

If you have any comments, questions or general feelings about anything you’ve read or seen in this post then as always please feel free to make use of the comments section below, but in the mean time,
Enjoy

*One more thing…if you’d like to see a series of videos showing the editing process for this ‘Fighter’ image then again just ‘shout me out’ in the comments section and I’ll look at putting something together.

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Now, working in such low light doesn’t normally cause a problem for the AF (Auto focus) on my Nikon D3 but when it does there’s an inexpensive piece of kit that’s always in my kit bag and comes to the rescue on more than one occasion…

At some point in the near future I’m going to put together a ‘What’s in my bag’ post showing what I typically carry with me on a shoot and also other lighting equipment that I use when in the studio but jumping the gun slightly here’s something I wouldn’t be without…

This pocket sized torch is called an LED Lenser and for it’s size packs a real punch and only costs around £10. If shooting on your own then there’s definitely a knack to holding it in your left hand and holding the camera with your right, then turning it on momentarily and aiming towards where you want to focus on your subject and finally pressing the shutter; but well worth the effort to save the frustration

Anyway back to the shoot and here’s a diagram to give you an idea of the lighting set up. (Note…All the photos of ‘Angelo’ were taken with him sat in the passenger seat of the car.)

It’s not uncommon during a location shoot for me to get comments/questions from passersby but the one I got on this particular evening definitely takes the 1st Prize slot for ‘Things not to say near a model’

Female Passerby: “Is it ok for to me pass by?”
Me: “Yes of course”
Female Passerby: “Oh good. I didn’t know if you were photographing a dead body or something.”

But then I guess looking back at what the set up must have looked like, she could be forgiven for thinking the worst.
Enjoy

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Ok so rather than do a complete walk through of both the photo shoot and editing in one long post I though it best to split it. So, for this post I’ll concentrate on the lighting set ups and then in a few days I’ll cover some of the editing techniques I used to create the composite images.

Before we move on though I think it’s important to mention that the subject of this photo shoot, Mike Jay is the real deal; a genuine Samurai and not someone playing the part. The clothing & weaponry Mike brought along to the shoot was all the genuine article so I know I speak for both Neal and myself when I say that we both felt honoured to be doing this shoot.

Warming Up/Getting in ‘The Zone’:
As is always the case in every shoot I do there’s a time at the start, usually a window of about 15 minutes where both I and the model (subject) need to get warmed up and in the zone. It’s at this time that I stick to the most basic of lighting set ups such as a single Nikon SB800 and reflective umbrella, and like I said the point here is just to get warmed up. Occasionally I may find that some of the shots from this warm up period become ‘keepers’ but for the majority of the time this isn’t the case.

The Shoot: 1st Set Up:
After a short period of time both Mike and myself had got into the right frame of mind so from here we moved onto a 3 light set up using the White Walls of the studio as the backdrop:

Two Profoto 500′s into strip boxes to the rear and either side of Mike were us to add some rim lighting and to the front all that was used was a Profoto 500 and Beauty Dish with Honeycomb Grid fitted. Normally this would be on a boom above and to the front but this time was on a light stand above and to front directly in line with the camera shooting position.

It was always the intention that shots from the first set up would be used to created a composite image so the lights and mike were positioned in such a way that the backdrop turned to a shade of grey which later on would make the compositing process that much easier and quicker.

Below you can see the out of camera image and the stock image that was then used during the editing stage to create the final composite:

Next week I’ll cover the editing that shows how I placed the out of camera image and background together plus touch on some of the techniques used to get the final overall look.

The Shoot: 2nd Set Up:
Moving on our next set up was the White seamless including the reflective flooring:

The purpose here was to make some clean simple shots to show some of the stances/poses so once the set had been put together it was just a case of running through some moves:

Editing this series of images consisted of cleaning up the white background and flooring and then just a couple of simple techniques to bring out detail. Again, I’ll cover these in the follow on post in a few days time.

The Shoot: 3rd Set Up:
The 3rd set up saw us using the grey seamless; reason being that again I had a few ideas for composite images to come out of it.

The lighting was very similar to the very first set up with two rim lights and then a single light above and to the front of Mike; occasionally switching to using just the one rim light:

I wanted to get a mixture of both 3/4 and full length shots from this set up so had to pay a lot of attention to the shadows being cast on the flooring. Here’s one of the 3/4 length shots but at the moment I’m still in the process of editing a full length shot so as soon as one of those is complete I’ll be sure to post it here too along with any editing tips/techniques you may find useful.

And Finally:
Before calling it a day and we’d cleared the studio down, I positioned Mike between the two strip boxes; one to the front and one to the back, both in line with each other. To get the black background all that was needed was to set the camera to it’s maximum sync speed with the Profoto heads which was 1/160sec and then choose a suitable aperture to give us a completely dark shot. The lights were then brought in to light the subject i.e. Mike … simple

With the result being…

•    •    •

So there you have it, Part 1 of the Samurai Photo Shoot. In part 2 I’ll cover some of the editing techniques that I used to create a couple of the composites including how the backgrounds were added in, adding detail and touching a little on a dodging and burning technique to show how as an example we can take an image through the stages needed.

In the mean time if you have any questions or comments then please as always feel free to make use of the comments section below. Oh and incidentally, this is the first of two shoots with Mike; the second being out on location in a field in Aldershot complete with a horse in full battle armour & some smoke bombs to create mist…definitely a shoot I’m looking forward to.

Have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you in a few days,
Enjoy

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